


A Long Time Coming

by pinkadot



Category: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi
Genre: Domestic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-21
Updated: 2011-10-21
Packaged: 2017-10-24 20:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/267355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkadot/pseuds/pinkadot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ritsu decides it's high time he clean up his apartment, and Takano agrees.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Long Time Coming

It wasn't that Ritsu wasn't _grateful_ for the help, he just couldn't help but feel a keen sense of self-conscious guilt at the current state of affairs. There was a certain air of humor about it as well, but Ritsu chose to focus more on the former as he edged past Takano with an armful of dirty laundry. He hadn't asked Takano to come help him clean up his apartment, and he definitely would have refused if the offer had come up (Ritsu certainly couldn't _remember_ there ever being such an offer), but yet there Takano sat, dressed in an old tee and well-worn, ripped jeans, dutifully making piles out of the various books and papers that had previously littered the floor.

Ritsu paused for just a moment to watch him, wondering just why he would willingly devote his free Saturday afternoon to helping his disorderly subordinate and neighbor bring the condition of his apartment back up to basic living standards, especially when Takano had previously told him that such things were useless and his time would be better spent taking on more projects at work. But Takano had simply invited himself in after he had gone to hand his final draft edits for Saitou-sensei's latest manuscript back to Ritsu and Ritsu had answered his door in a dusty apron, hair pushed back from his face with a thin headband. And try though he may, none of his attempts to get Takano to _just go back to your own apartment_ had been successful.

For the most part, they worked in silence, save for the occasional _where do you want me to put this_ or _can you hand me that dust cloth_. And yet the silence wasn't heavy or uncomfortable at all. It reminded Ritsu of the times they used to sit in the library after school, reading books side by side, and he never could make it past the first few pages because his heart was always pounding so loudly in his ears out of heightened awareness of _Saga-senpai's_ proximity he couldn't concentrate no matter how hard he tried. He could hardly keep his eyes off Saga's tall figure, so relaxed next to the tense ball of nerves and blushes that was teenage Ritsu. But he did his best to feign interest in whatever book he was supposed to be reading so that he could extend their time together by even one minute before Saga inevitably looked over at him and told him to go home if he was bored.

Suddenly, as if reading Ritsu's mind, Takano looked up at him, head inclined in wordless question. _No,_ Ritsu shook his head, breaking out of his reverie, _on second thought, this is nothing like that._

"You know, the faster you finish cleaning this place--"

"--the faster you can go back to your _own_ apartment," Ritsu finished, finally making his way to the bathroom to dump his load of laundry into the washing machine. It clicked and swished to life, the sound echoing in the small room until the door was closed to muffle it.

Takano clicked his tongue and leaned back against the low couch behind him, idly flipping through an old issue of _Emerald_ he had picked up from the floor. "I was going to say 'the happier you'll feel.'"

Ritsu made his way to the kitchen to grab a bottle of tea before he started on his next task. But he frowned as he looked over at Takano. The guy looked entirely too comfortable there on the floor, impossibly long legs stretched out in front of him as he made himself at home. "Why are you still here anyway?"

"Because I'm sick of picking dust out of your hair every day. And I figured if you were finally going to tackle this disaster you call an apartment, I would make sure you did it _properly_." Takano finally set the magazine aside, instead rifling through a pile of plastic bags to see if anything of value was still inside. "It probably wouldn't kill you to actually sleep in your bed once in a while."

"I sleep in my bed!" Ritsu twisted the cap back on his bottle after taking a drink and slammed it down on the counter. "Really, Takano-san, I can do this _just fine_ by myself."

Slowly, Takano pushed himself up from the floor, plastic bags in hand, and made his way toward the kitchen, eyeing Ritsu the whole way.

For a minute, Ritsu was afraid Takano could hear how loud his heartbeat had suddenly gotten. It was an entirely different situation being alone with Takano in his apartment than it was at work, especially when he considered just how many times he had gotten carried away and found himself flat on his back on the cold hardwood floor, shirt bunched up around his armpits and pants tugged down past his knees as Takano expertly sucked him to completion, at once so good and yet so-- _No!_ He couldn't let himself get caught up like that again.

"Onodera?"

Without thinking, Ritsu reached out to smack away the hand that was reaching out toward him. He wasn't about to fall into Takano's trap again.

Brows knitted in confusion, Takano took a step back. "You're the one standing right in front of the trash can! Did you want to save these plastic conbini bags then?"

"Huh? Oh... sorry." He stepped aside to let Takano pass, leaning instead against the opposite counter.

Ritsu couldn't help but wonder just what it was about the guy that always made him raise his hackles. It wasn't that he _disliked_ the guy. Takano was a hard worker, and excellent at what he did. Ritsu respected him on a professional level, even if he was rude and demanding and had more than a few times dogged him the entire way home about an upcoming deadline or a manuscript that still wasn't up to snuff. But outside of work, Takano was far from the quiet loner he was in high school, the one who sat in the same seat in the library every day and adopted stray kittens and took chances on lowly, naive first-years who still believed in things like love at first sight. This Takano was personable (if still a little intimidating even after ten years), with a sharp sense of humor and a penchant for speaking exactly what was on his mind.

And it was exactly that directness which bothered Ritsu so. Try though he might, there was just no way he could compete on the same level. Every single time he tried to honestly speak his mind, he either found himself mired deep in an unfortunate misunderstanding or completely undone by some sweet, perfectly-timed words from Takano, who always seemed to know that what he wanted to hear and what he _needed_ to hear were two very different things. Ritsu was certain that Takano knew more about what was in his heart than he himself did, and that thought frightened him just a little bit.

"Are you okay?" Takano was leaning up against the refrigerator, a bottle of water in one hand, the other crossed over the front of him. "Is the cleanliness overwhelming you?"

Coming back to his senses, Ritsu shot him a mild glare. "I'm _fine_. Won't you just go home already? ...And who said you could help yourself to my water?"

Takano purposely took a long swig from the bottle before responding. "You know, if you have that much trouble making it into your bedroom at night, you can always sleep at my place. That offer still stands."

Ritsu gave a nervous chuckle and held up his hands in defense. "Ah, n-no, that's definitely not necessary, Takano-san."

“Then should I stay over here and make sure you get into bed every night?”

The way Takano was regarding him with a very cool, level stare made the skin on Ritsu’s arms prickle. It was unnerving, and he hated that he couldn’t control the way his voice edged higher as he spoke. “ _What?_ No way! Don’t say such ridiculous things. Besides, I already cleaned my room, so you have nothing to worry about.” It wasn’t the implications of the offer that worried him. It was the brief but noticeable fluttering of his heart that did—not that he would ever admit to such a thing.

Takano arched a brow “Hmm…” The sound was low, but had a playful edge to it. “Then I guess I can just stop by for a nightly inspection, since you seem to have everything under control here.” He pushed away from the fridge and headed toward the hall entrance. “I’ll be back later, then.”

He was leaving? Just like that? Without a fight? Without so much as a _kiss_?

“Ah, Takano-san… um…”

Ritsu blinked widely, stunned for a moment. The words had come out of his mouth before he had even realized he had opened it. Maybe Takano hadn’t heard?

“What is it?”

Damn. Guess not.

“Ah, no… It’s just… well…” He cast his gaze to the side, fairly sure his cheeks had an utterly embarrassing pink stain to them.

Ritsu wasn’t even sure what he wanted to say. He had been asking—as well as demanding that Takano leave him alone since he first stepped into the apartment. But he knew they were both loath for him to go. Ritsu could deny it all he wanted, but he knew that in situations like this, where they were alone and away from the stresses of work and actually _getting along_ and doing something so laughably _domestic_ , he just didn’t have much fight left in him when it came to resisting Takano—not emotionally and not physically.

Takano turned, arms crossed in front of him as he regarded Ritsu curiously. There was a warmth in his eyes, and it didn’t take long before he was closing the distance between the two of them, hand reaching out to ruffle Ritsu’s hair even despite the headband in it. “Okay. I’ll stay.”

It was almost hard for Ritsu to hear the softly spoken words through the thrumming of his heartbeat in his ears. The warmth of Takano’s hand on his head and the embarrassment that stained his cheeks made him feel like he was back in the library again, just a teenager looking to get closer to the guy he loved. _No, it’s not like that at all,_ he reminded himself. _but it’s getting there._


End file.
